{"product_id":"1779-no-taxation-for-militarization-exceptionally-rare-20pp-mss-speech-against-taxes-for-the-revolution-on-moral-grounds","title":"1779 NO TAXATION FOR MILITARIZATION. Exceptionally Rare 20pp MSs Speech Against Taxes for the Revolution on Moral Grounds.","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn historically significant manuscript \"third way\" manifesto of the American Revolution by radical Quakeress preacher, Anne Emlen Mifflin (1755-1815). The address dates to 1779, as the American Revolution expanded to the South and began attracting global funds and military support. With financial resources dwindling and the increasing intensity of the War, the pressure toward taxation of the emerging American citizenry increased, including leverage of social and legal pressure on the pacifist Quakers. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy 1779, leaders among the Philadelphia Quakers had been imprisoned for their unwillingness to pay taxes toward the military effort, making their case the first \"federal\" act of religious repression in the emerging America. Because of their stance of principle, seen by many as unpatriotic, their status in the emerging America became tenuous politically, religiously, and socially. These pressures led to a steady stream of urgent calls to faithfulness to the \u003cem\u003eancient way \u003c\/em\u003eby Quaker leadership, both domestically and from London. By the \u003cem\u003eancient way\u003c\/em\u003e they meant the long-standing view that all wars were a manifest part of the Kingdom of darkness and that participation, even with the best of intentions, was participation in the systems and structures that perpetuated evil in the world. Leadership were deeply concerned that the social and financial pressures American Quakers were experiencing would cause them to breach the principal and begin to support the War financially.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEnter Anne Emlen. Her landmark address was delivered at the Providence Meeting House, just outside Philadelphia, in 1779 and is known through just a small number of extracts and manuscripts. The present manuscript was preserved by George Miller, Clerk of the Providence Meeting House at the time she delivered the address, and has been passed down through the family until acquired by us in early 2026. It seems to be the most complete example extant, including handwritten textual emendations and footnotes. It bears her name in the upper right of the cover; George Miller's ownership signature on the top center of the wraps, then titled. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn overlooked alternate response the Revolutionary crisis, the present manuscript and its attendant story is worthy of more prominent preservation. It stands as a foundational document by one of the most passionate Quaker voices of the era in favor of Christian non-resistance. She urges to her Christian community, and to all Christians, to true Christ-defined faithfulness. While the \"worldly\" around them may battled for earthly power, demanding that all citizens choose their side, Loyalist or Patriot, Emlen argues that any participation in the fleshly project is participation in the evil that pervades the world, that faithful Christians must choose a third way; a way of meekness, of powerlessness, of willingness to suffer with Christ, in order to prevent their becoming complicit in systems that perpetuate cycles of of murder, power, hatred, revenge and all manner of evil. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eAn exceptional piece of Americana. For Anne's significance, see the below biography.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMifflin, Anne Emlen [1755-1815]. Notes on the Payment of Taxes, Appropriated for Military Purposes. [Providence, Pennsylvania. 1779]. 20pp\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAnne Emlen Mifflin (1755–1815) was an American Quaker minister, abolitionist, and social reformer whose ministry emphasized opposition to slavery, advocacy for Native American rights, and the expansion of women's roles within Quakerism. Born into one of Philadelphia's wealthiest Quaker families, she received an education rooted in eighteenth-century Quaker principles and began her public ministry in the pre-Revolutionary era, producing an extensive body of writings including spiritual autobiographies, travel narratives, poetry, and letters that documented her reform efforts. \u003cspan style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'San Francisco', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHer religious awakening commenced in the mid-1770s, around 1775 when she was approximately twenty years old, amid a period of personal reflection contrasting her earlier life of social engagements with a deepening attraction to Quaker truths. Documented in her \"Account of My Religious Progress,\" composed primarily between 1779 and 1795, this phase emphasized internal spiritual conviction derived from the \"Inward Light\" rather than external approvals, involving commitments to plain living, advocacy for the poor and marginalized, and pacifism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA pivotal crisis arose in 1779 and 1780 from her objection to her mother's use of Continental currency for tax payments, which she perceived as complicity in war efforts violating Quaker testimony; she temporarily left home, resolving, \"Since my indisposition, I have been impressed with an apprehension of duty in leaving my dear Mother’s house until she can see her way to forsake the use of Congress currency.\" \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eNever one to shy away from controversial issues, she also vocally argued for women's spiritual equality with men, grounding this in scriptural authority such as Galatians 3:28, which declares, \"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.\" Her writings reflect this as enabling female ministry, not as a novel assertion but as a restoration of primitive Christianity's egalitarian ethos, where the inner light transcended gender distinctions in prophetic calling. Manuscripts like her account circulated privately among Philadelphia Quakers, fostering introspection and reinforcing communal adherence to these principles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eShe was also opposed to slavery on the grounds of a Quaker understanding of Scripture, which emphasized the incompatibility of human bondage with Christian principles of equality and non-violence. Prior to her marriage, she composed indignant essays and letters decrying slaveholding, drawing on firsthand observations of enslaved individuals' suffering in Philadelphia, where auctions and harsh labor conditions were commonplace in the 1770s and 1780s. In one 1787 unpublished pastoral letter, she urged Quaker meetings to enforce manumission, arguing that economic dependencies on slavery perpetuated moral corruption and divine judgment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAs a traveling minister, Mifflin confronted slaveholders directly during visits to Southern Quaker meetings, documenting cases where members faced disownment for refusing to free their bondspeople, a process driven by the causal link between ownership and systemic violence observed in plantation economies. These efforts aligned with Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's 1776 resolve to exclude slaveholders, though enforcement lagged due to entrenched interests; Mifflin's writings highlighted how partial compliance allowed slavery's persistence, advocating immediate liberation over gradual measures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eFollowing her marriage, she co-authored and presented with Mary Berry one of the earliest petitions by women to a state legislature, urging the Pennsylvania assembly to strengthen abolition laws beyond the 1780 gradual emancipation act, warning that loopholes enabled continued importation and exploitation. This petition, grounded in reports of evasive practices by owners, marked a pivotal push for legislative rigor, predating organized women's anti-slavery societies by decades.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAnd of course she was faithful to the \u003cem\u003eancient testimony\u003c\/em\u003e, of pacifism. As articulated in the present manuscript she argued faithful Christians should refuse to pay taxes allocated for military purposes during the Revolutionary War (1775–1783), viewing such contributions as direct moral complicity in violence. In the present, she contends that paying these taxes made individuals \"partakers in the guilt of those who shed blood,\" contrary to Christian ethics derived from scriptures like Matthew 22:15–22, which distinguish civil obligations from support for destruction. She critiqued the voluntary nature of tax payments as insufficient to absolve participants, arguing that indirect funding through state mechanisms eroded personal accountability and normalized war, clashing with the Society of Friends' commitment to nonviolence and the \"Prince of Peace.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Specs Fine Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44196499193892,"sku":null,"price":22500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0093\/3910\/9435\/files\/05-22-2026SpecsFineBooks-3.jpg?v=1779666283","url":"https:\/\/specsfinebooks.com\/products\/1779-no-taxation-for-militarization-exceptionally-rare-20pp-mss-speech-against-taxes-for-the-revolution-on-moral-grounds","provider":"Specs Fine Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}